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http://www.archive.org/details/earlyfriendsorquOOnorriala 


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g 


THE 


EARLY    FRIENDS 


{OR    QUAKERS) 
IN    MARYLAND, 

READ  AT  THE  MEETING 

OF   THE 


Ik' 


Q^tJi  March,  1862, 
BY  J.  SAURIN  NORRIS. 


PRINTED   FOR   THE    MARYLAND    HISTORICAL   SOCIETY, 

BY    JOHN     D.     TOY. 


E 


THE 


EARLY    FRIENDS 

[OR    QUAKERS) 
IN    MARYLAND, 


READ  AT  THE  MEETING 

OF   THE 


^3j 


6th  March,  1862, 
BY  J.  SAURIN    NORllIS. 


rUrXTKI)    FOK    T[[[.;    MAIiVl.AND    IHSTORirAL    SOCIKTY, 

BY     JO  II  N     D  .     TOY. 


^I90 


THE    EARLY   FRIENDS,   (OR   QUAKERS) 
IN  MARYLAND. 


The  rise  and  progress  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  or 
Quakers,  in  the  province  of  Maryland,  constitutes  an 
episode  rather  than  a  prominent  integral  part  of  its  his- 
tory ;  a  thread  in  the  woof  distinct  and  separate  from  the 
whole  fabric.  By  the  inculcation  of  their  peculiar  tenets, 
diifering  so  widely  from  those  around  them,  they  imme- 
diately isolated  themselves  in  a  great  degree  from  the 
world.  Even  their  speech  and  apparel,  so  peculiar  to 
themselves,  seemed  as  a  harrier  between  them  and  the 
rest  of  mankind.  Abstaining,  almost  totally,  from  par- 
ticipation in  political  matters,  they  were  content  to  be 
governed,  not  to  govern ;  to  yield  obedience  to  the  recog- 
nised laws,  where  their  doctrines  did  not  come  in  opposi- 
tion to  them ;  yet  when  so  clashing,  presenting  a  front  of 
quiet,  but  downright  and  sturdy  resistance;  not  by  force 
of  arms,  but  by  the  exhibition  of  an  endurance  that  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  most  remarkable  cliaracteristics  of  the 
sect,  and  which,  however  open  to  animadversion,  yet  com- 
mands respect  from  its  consistency  with  their  principles, 
and  the  unyielding  persistence  with  which  it  has  been 
maintained. 

Suddenly  springing  into  existence  in  England,  under 
the  lead  of  their  founder  George  Fox,  enunciating  their 
1 


5i_lBS0 

w>8  SETS 


^testimonies"  with  boldness  and  distinctness,  which  testi- 
monies or  doctrines,  in  many  respects  attacked  the  very 
foundations  of  men's  prejudices  and  principles,  striking 
at  the  root  of  the  established  church  polity  and  govern- 
ment, and  in  not  a  few  points  coming  into  direct  collision 
with  the  laws  of  the  kingdom,  it  is  not  wonderful  that 
the  opposition  to  them  there,  should  have  been  bitter  and 
powerful,  and  when  their  earliest  travellers  or  emigrants 
came  into  the  British  Colonies  of  America,  they  brought 
the  same  tenets  into  lands  where  the  fundamental  laws, 
habits  and  feelings,  were  at  least  measurably  in  conso- 
nance with  those  of  the  mother  country. 

The  rise  of  the  Society  in  England  dates  between  the 
years  1644  and  1648,  during  w^iich  period  their  earliest 
meetings  for  w^orship  were  held,  and  immediately  there- 
after the  accession  to  their  numbers  was  rapid  and  re- 
markable. In  1653  their  first  meetings  for  ^^ tUscipline," 
or  ordering  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  were  held  in  the 
north  of  England,  and  from  this  date  may  fairly  be  reck- 
oned their  establishment  as  a  distinct  religious  body.* 

"In  1655  many  ministers  went  bej^ond  sea,  and  in  1656 
some  proselytes  were  made  in  the  American  provinces  and 
other  places, "t  writes  George  Fox  ;  and  in  July  1656 
Mary  Fisher  and  Ann  Austin,  arrived  at  Boston,  being 
the  first  Quakers  known  to  liave  visited  America.  Sevrell 
gives  a  graphic  account  of  their  reception  and  ill  usage, 
and  states  that  after  being  five  weeks  prisoners,  they  were 
sent  back. I  This  .^lary  Fisher  subsequently  acconiplished 
an  extraordinary  journey  to  Turkey,  and  actually  visited 
the  Sultan  in  his  camp  near  Adrianople  ;  wliere  she  was 
kindly  treated  by  him,  and  ofiered  a  guard  to  escort  her 
to  Constantinople,  wliich  she  declined,  and  went  thither 
in  safety  and  unattended. 

*  Jannev's  Fox.  483.       f  Fox's  Journal,  1,222.       t  Sewell's  Hist.  1,  203. 


The  Colony  of  Virginia  was  visited  about  the  same 
time  as  Massachusetts,  and  in  this  case  a  woman  was  also 
the  first  missionary  of  the  then  new  sect.  One  Elizabeth 
Harris  certainly  returned  from  Virginia  in  the  fifth  month 
(July)  1657,  0.  S  ;  and  it  is  believed  she  went  to  that 
province  in  1656.  A  letter  to  her  from  Robert  Clarkson, 
quoted  by  Bowden,  is  dated  thus,  '■'■From  Severn  the  14^A 
of  the  eleventh  month  1657,"  and  underneath  is  written 
^'This  is  in  Virginia.'"^  It  appears  to  have  been  generally 
conceded  that  the  "Severn"  named  was  at  a  small  river  of 
that  name,  an  affluent,  or  arm  of  Mobjack  Bay,  lying  on 
the  Virginia  shore,  between  the  Rappahannock  and  York 
Rivers;  and  Janney  states  that  a  meeting  was  settled 
there.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  locality  of  this 
Severn,  it  is  certain  there  are  places  named  in  the  letter, 
which  give  some  ground  for  the  supposition  that  it  might 
be  the  Maryland  Severn.  The  writer  states  that  "  we 
have  disposed  of  the  most  part  of  the  books  Avhich  were 
sent," — "at  Herring  Creek,  Roade  River,  South  River, 
all  about  Severn,  the  Brand  Neck  and  thereabout,  the 
Seven  Mountains  and  Kent."  Most  of  these  places  are 
familiar  as  Maryland  localities.  He  also  mentions  a  cer- 
tain Henry  Woolchurcli,  wliose  name  appears  in  1677, 
among  the  manuscript  records  of  Friends  in  Maryland. 
The  question  as  to  where  this  Severn  w^as,  is  interesting 
only  in  its  bearing  on  the  fact  of  the  earliest  date  at  which 
any  Quaker  %vas  in  Maryland. 

Towards  the  close  of  1657,  Josiali  Cole  and  Thomas 
Thurston  reached  Virginia;  from  whence  they  started  on 
foot  to  Maryland,  where  being  joined  by  Thomas  Chap- 
man, they  remained  until  the  2d  of  the  sixth  month, 
1658,  0.  S.  (which  corresponds  to  the  present  eighth 
month,  or  August,)  when  they  proceeded  on  their  pedes- 

*  Bowden's  Hist.  1,  340. 


trian  travels  to  Khode  Island  and  New  England.*  This 
remarkable  journey  was  made  through  vast  wildernesses 
on  foot, — and  among  strange  tribes  of  savages,  and  is  an 
exemplification  of  the  stout  hearts  of  the  men  w^ho  en- 
countered its  perils  for  the  sake  of  disseminating  their 
religious  tenets.  Tliese  three  men.  Cole,  Thurston  and 
Chapman,  were  undoubtedly  among  the  earliest  Quakers 
who  visited  Maryland.  Thurston  had  previously  been  in 
Boston  and  was  banished  therefrom,  and  as  in  the  mean 
time  laws  had  been  made  to  prevent  all  vessels  from  bring- 
ing Quakers  into  Massachusetts,  he  adopted  this  plan  of 
again  entering  that  Colony  by  a  ''back  door,"  as  it  is 
quaintly  termed  in  soine  proceedings  of  the  General  Court 
of  Boston  relating  to  liis  second  visit,  f 

In  the  early  part  of  16513,  three  other  Friends  visited 
Maryland — these  were  William  Robinson,  Christopher 
Holder  and  Robert  Hodgson,  and  through  their  labors 
some  proselytes  were  made,  or  in  tlie  words  of  the  Quaker 
historians,  "considerable  convincement  took  place. "J 

On  the  23d  July  of  this  year,  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil of  Maryland  issued  orders  directing  Justices  of  the 
Peace  to  seize  any  Quakers  that  might  come  into  their 
districts,  and  to  whip  tliem  from  Constable  to  Constable 
until  they  should  reach  the  bounds  of  the  province. || 

Thomas  Thurston,  who  has  been  formerly  mentioned, 
having  returned  from  New  England,  it  is  related  of  him, 
in  a  manuscript  letter  of  W.  Robinson,  dated  165*J,  and 
quoted  by  Bowden,  tliat  "he  was  arrested  and  sentenced 
to  an  imprisonment  of  a  year  and  day;"  and  Besse  as- 
serts that  four  individuals  were  lined,  £3  \os.  for  evinc- 
ing their  hospitality  to  liim,  wliile  another  was  cruelly 
wiiipped  "for  not  assisting  the  sheriff  to  apprehend  him." 

»  Howdeii  1,  122,  and  Jaiiney's  IJiot.  1,  432.     ;  liowdeii,  1,  3G7. 

tSewell's  Hist.  1,  334  to  336.  l|  Couiuil  Ucc.  Lib.  II.  11.  p,  20. 


From  the  accounts  of  the  charges  against  Thurston,  as 
contained  in  the  Kecords  of  the  Council  of  Maryland ,  and 
from  his  subsequent  history,  the  inference  is  warranted 
that  his  conduct  might  have  been  of  such  aggressive 
character  as  to  invite  the  interference  of  the  civil  autliori- 
ties, — and  it  is  not  improbable  that  he  was  both  the 
cause  and  the  victim  of  the  harsh  order  of  the  Gover- 
nor and  Council  before  referred  to.*     Seven  years  after 

*  The  following  extracts  from  the  Records  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of 
Maryland,  among  the  MSS.  collections  of  the  Maryland  Historical  Society, 
(Liber  H.  H.  from  1656  to  1668)  give  an  interesting  view  of  the  suspicion 
with  which  the  Quakers  were  received,  and  of  the  proceedings  relative  to 
Thomas  Thurston  and  Josiah  Cole.  These  proceedings  contain  no  reference 
to  Thomas  Chapman,  who  was  the  companion  of  Thurston  and  Cole;  and 
hence  it  is  inferred  that  he  was  more  circumspect  in  his  deportment  towards 
the  authorities. 

July  8,  1658. — "  Ui)on  information  that  Thomas  Thurston  and  Josiah 
Cole  had  refused  to  subscribe  the  engagement  by  the  Articles  of  24  March 
last,"  a  warrant  was  issued  to  the  Sheriffs  to  bring  them  before  the  Council. 
The  "engagement"  referred  to  is  contained  in  the  articles  surrendering  the 
government  of  the  Province  to  Cecilius,  Lord  Baltimore,  on  24  March,  1657  ; 
0.  S.  and  was  a  promise  to  submit  to  his  authority,  instead  of  the  oath  of 
fidelity,  and  applied  to  the  people  then  resident  in  the  Province. 

July  16,  1658. — "Upon  information  that  Thomas  Thurston  was  prisoner, 
and  Josiah  Cole  at  Anne  Arundel  seducing  the  people,  and  dissuading  the 
people  from  taking  the  engagement  of  24th  March  last, — Ordered  to  the 
Sheriff  of  Anne  Arundel  to  take  the  body  of  Josiah  Cole,  and  him  in  safe 
custody  keep  without  bail  or  mainprize." 

July  22d,  1658. — Among  other  proceedings  the  oath  of  Commissioners  and 
Justices  of  the  Peace  was  tendered  and  taken  upon  the  Holy  Evangelists  by 
all  but  Wm.  Burges  and  Thomas  Meares,  "who  pretended  it  was  in  no  case 
lawful  to  swear,  whose  plea  was  by  the  Board  disallowed," — and  tlie  said 
Burges  and  Meares  were  supplanted  by  Capt.  Thos.  Howell  and  Thos.  Taylor. 

July  23d,  1658. — The  Council  "take  into  consideration  the  insolent  beha- 
viour of  some  people  called  Quakers,  who  at  the  Court  in  contempt  of  an 
order  then  made  and  proclaimed,  would  presumptuously  stand  covered,  and 
not  only  so,  but  also  refused  to  subscribe  the  engagement,  notwithstanding 
the  Act  of  Assembly  in  that  case  provided,  alledging  that  they  were  to  be 
governed  by  God's  law  and  not  by  man's  law;  and  upon  full  debate  finding 
that  this  refusal  of  the  engagement  was  a  breach  of  the  Articles  of  the  24th 


8 

this  period  he  gave  great  trouble  to  the  Quakers  them- 
selves by  his  extravagances,  and  the  celebrated  John 
Burnyeat  writes  of  him  that  "he  was  lost  as  to  truth, 

March  last,  and  that  their  principles  tended  to  the  destruction  of  Govern- 
ment;— Ordered,  that  all  persons  whatsoever  that  were  residing  within  this 
Province,  on  the  24th  March,  1657,  should  take  and  subscribe  the  said  engage- 
ment bj  the  20th  August  next,  or  else  depart  the  Province  by  the  25th  of 
March  following,  upon  paine  due  to  rebels  and  traitors,  if  found  within  this 
Province  after  the  said  25th  March,  and  that  a  proclamation  be  forthwith 
drawn  to  this  effect.'' 

July  25,  1658. —  "According  to  tlie  warrant  bearing  date  22d  instant, 
Thomas  Thurston  was  brought  before' the  Governor,  and  the  said  Thurston 
being  desirous  to  depart  the  Province,  the  Governor  ordered  the  following 
warrant  to  be  drawn  : — Whereas,  Thomas  Thurston  by  himself  and  friends 
hath  desired  of  me  that  he  may  passe  on  to  Annarundel,  from  whence  he 
hath  engaged  himself  to  depart  this  Province  by  Monday  next,  being  the  sec- 
ond day  of  August,  until  whose  departing  out  of  the  Province,  Josias  Cole  is 
to  remainc  as  by  order  of  Court  provided.  These  are  therefore  in  the  Lord 
Proprietary's  name  to  will  and  require  you  not  to  molest  the  said  Thomas 
Thurston  during  the  time  limited  for  his  stay,  and  so  soone  as  he  shall  signify 
to  you  his  intention  presently  to  depart,  that  you  sett  at  liberty  the  said  Jo- 
sias Cole;  Provided,  that  if  they  or  either  of  them,  shall  be  found  within 
this  Province  after  the  aforesaid  second  day  of  August,  unless  made  unable  to 
depart  by  sickness,  they  or  either  of  them  be  apprehended  and  proceeded 
against  according  to  lawe  in  theyr  case  provided." 

For  twelve  montlis  from  this  period  the  Council  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  troubled  with  the  Quakers, — but  Thurston  having  returned  from  New 
England,  again  attracted  attention,  and  accordingly  on  the  23d  July,  1659, 
the  following  proceedings  were  had  : 

"  Whereas  it  is  to  (too)  well  knowne  in  this  province  that  there  have  bin 
(been)  several  vagabonds  and  idle  persons  known  by  the  name  of  Quakers 
that  have  presumed  to  come  into  tliis  Province  as  well  dissuading  the  people 
from  complying  with  the  military  discipline  in  this  time  of  danger,  as  also 
from  giving  testimony,  or  being  Jurors  in  causes  depending  between  party 
and  party,  or  bearing  any  office  in  the  province,"  the  Justices  of  the  Peace 
are  directed  to  apprehend  and  cause  them  to  be  whipped  from  constable  to 
constable  until  they  should  reach  the  bounds  of  the  province. 

August  3,  1659. — Thomas  Thurston  was  brought  before  the  Governor  and 
Council  by  Warrant  from  Col.  Nathaniel  Utie, — and  i)leaded  that  tlie  order  of 
23d  July,  related  to  the  '"time  then  to  come,"  and  was  not  applicable  to  him, 
he  being  at  that  time  in  the  Province,     This  plea  wa^i  allowed,  but  '"the  Board 


9 

and  became  a  vagabond  and  fugitive  as  to  his  spiritual 
condition,  and  little  otherwise  as  to  the  outward."* 

In  1660  or  1661,  Josiah  Cole  was  banished  from  Mary- 
land, but  on  what  charge  is  not  related. f 

About  this  time  Geo.  Kofe,  another  minister  visited 
the  American  Colonies,  including  Maryland,  and  on  the 
15th  of  9th  month,  1661,  he  writes  to  Geo.  Fox,  from 
Barbadoes,  that  ''many  settled  meetings  there  are  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia  and  New  England. "|  In  1663, 
he  paid  a  second  visit  to  this  Province,  ^and  was  drowned 
during  a  storm  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay.]] 

Thus  far  the  history  of  the  early  Quakers  in  Maryland 
is  confined  to  the  aspect  they  presented  as  travelling 
members  of  a  new  and  strange  religious  sect.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  many  of  the  settlers  became  converts, — 
in  fact  it  is  so  asserted  by  their  journalists, — -while  the 
emigration  of  their  members  from  England^  added  to  the 
number  here,  as  it  did  in  other  provinces.  As  citizens  of 
the  colony,  and  of  their  position  in  it,  we  knoAv  but 
little, — owing,  in  some  degree,  doubtless,  to  their  volun- 
tary abstinence  from  participation  in  political  affairs,  as 
w^ell  as  to  the  doubtful  position  they  were  placed  in  by 
their  doctrines  in  regard  to  oaths,  tithes  or  church  rates, 
bearing  arms,  &c. 

dolh  judge,  that  the  said  Thos.  Thurston  be  forever  banished  this  Province," 
on  pain  of  being  whipped  with  thirty-eight  lashes,  and  sent  out  of  the  Pro- 
vince,— and  any  person  presuming  to  receive,  harbor  or  conceal  him  after  the 
tenth  day  of  the  present  month,  should  be  fined  500  lbs.  of  tobacco. 

November  28,  1661. — "Then  was  called  John  Everitt  to  answer  his  con- 
tempt in  running  from  his  colors  when  prest  to  goe  to  the  Susquehanna  Fort — 
pleaded  that  he  could  not  beare  arms  for  conscience  sake  : — Ordered  that  the 
said  Everitt  be  tryed  at  the  next  Provincial  Court,  and  in  the  interim  be  com- 
mitted into  the  Sheriff's  hands,  and  that  the  Sheriff  impanel  a  Jury  against 
that  tyme,  and  in  the  meane  tyme  the  said  Everitt  to  be  kept  in  chaynes  and 
bake  his  own  bread." 
*Bowden,  1,  372.     f  Bowden,  1,  370.     ±  Bowden,  1,  347.     !|  Bowden.  1,  362. 


10 

As  pioneers  in  the  work  of  establishing  in  the  wihier- 
ness  a  new  religious  sect,  they  gave  to  that  object  their 
earnest  and  persistent  labors ;  and  amid  the  trials  inci- 
dent to  the  settlement  of  a  new  country, — common  to  all 
who  encountered  its  difficulties, — they  laid  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  of  their  Society, — the  eifects  of 
which  remain  indelibly  impressed  on  the  history  of  our 
State,  many  of  whose  most  respectable  and  prominent 
families  find  their  American  origin  among  the  plain 
Friends,  who  on  both  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  set  up 
their  meetings,  and  in  their  lives  consistently  practiced 
the  doctrines  which  their  ministers  so  fervently  preached. 

Kilty,  in  his  "Landholder's  Assistant,"  instances  an 
obligation  from  Francis  Armstrong  relative  to  the  taking 
up  of  some  land  for  the  use  of  Peter  Sharpe,  which  is 
dated  the  ^ ^  nineteenth  day  of  the  third  month  called  May," 
with  said  Sharpe 's  acknowledgment  at  the  foot  thereof,  and 
which  bears  date  the  ^^  twentieth  of  the  fifth  month  1665." 
In  a  note  he  says,  ''the  singularity  observed  in  tliis  con- 
tract of  naming  the  montlis  by  their  numbers,  cannot 
well  be  accounted  for,  as  no  other  instances  of  it  have 
been  perceived,  and  the  people  who  now  have  that  prac- 
tice were  scarcely  tolerated  in  Maryland.  Strangers  (at 
least)  of  tliat  description  being  treated,  wlien  found  in 
tlie  province,  witli  indignities  wliich  I  (h)  not  vliuse  to 
mention."* 

It  is  evident  tliat  Kilty  was  ignorant  of  the  earlier 
existence  of  the  Quakers  in  Maryland.  The  use  of  num- 
bers for  naming  tlie  months  being  a  ])eculiar  custom  of 
Friends,  might  be  taken  as  conclusive  proof  that  Arm- 
strong and  Sharpe  were  of  that  sect, — but  there  are  otlier 
evidences  of  tlie  fact, — one  of  peculiar  interest  is  given 
by  Mr.  Davis  in   his    "Day  Star,"  wlicre  he  ({uotes  the 

*  Kilf\'5  liiin'llioldpr's  Assistant.  8s. 


11 

will  of  Peter  Hhaqie  (who  was  a  physician)  dated  in  1672, 
giving  ''to  Friends  in  the  ministry,  viz:  Alice  Gary, 
William  Cole  and  Sarah  Mash,  if  then  in  heing, — Wen- 
lock  Christerson  and  his  wife  ;  John  Burnett  and  Daniel 
Gould,  in  money  or  goods, — forty  shillings  worth  a  piece; 
also  for  a  perpetual  standing,  a  horse,  for  the  use  of 
Friends  in  the  ministry.''* 

The  instance  given  by  Kilty  refers  to  tlie  earliest  period 
which  I  have  met  with,  in  which  the  Quakers  appear  as 
land  owners. 

Wenlock  Christerson,  mentioned  as  one  of  the  devisees 
in  Dr.  Sharpe's  will,  was  one  of  those  who  figured  prom- 
inently in  Boston  during  the  trials  of  the  Quakers  there. 
While  the  trial  of  William  Leddra  was  progressing  in 
that  city,  in  March,  16G1,  this  Christerson,  who  had 
himself  been  previously  banished  thence  on  pain  of 
death,  suddenly  appeared  in  Court,  as  the  friend  and 
sympathizer  of  the  prisoner,— braving  all  consequences 
to  himself,  that  he  might  possibly  aid  his  friend,  and 
serve  the  cause  he  had  so  fearlessly  and  earnestly  em- 
braced. He  was  again  arrested,  tried  and  sentenced  to 
be  hung,  but  after  a  few  days  he  was,  with  twenty-seven 
others,  released. f  In  1664  he  was  whi23ped  with  ten 
lashes,  in  each  of  three  towns  in  Massachusetts,  and 
driven  into  the  wilderness. J  In  1674  he  was  a  petitioner 
to  the  Assembly  of  Maryland,  in  regard  to  oaths  and 
affirmations, — 1|  and  his  name  frequently  occurs  among 
those  of  the  Friends  in  Maryland.  The  Half  Year's 
Men's  Meeting,  held  at  John  Pitts'  on  the  Eastern  Shore, 
in  the  8th  month,  1679,  took  some  order  relative  to  secur- 
ing Elizabeth  Christerson  for  what  legacies  were  given  to 

*  Dtivis'  Day  Star,  18.  j.  Bowden's  Hist.  214. 

tSewell's  Hist.  1.  338.  !  Ridgley's  Annapolis.  GO. 


12 

John  Stacy  by  Wenlock  Cliristersoii;,  ''/ie  now  being  set 
free,"  (i.  e.  dead.Y 

In  April,  1672,  George  Fox  arrived  in  Maryland,  land- 
ing at  the  Patuxent,  and  just  in  time  to  reach  a  "General 
Meeting  for  all  the  Friends  in  the  Province  of  ]\Iary- 
.  land,"  which  had  been  appointed  by  John  Burnyeat  to 
be  held  at  West  River.  He  describes  it  as  '^a  very  large 
meeting,"  "and  held  four  days,  to  which,  besides  Friends 
came  many  other  people,  divers  of  whom  were  of  consid- 
erable quality  in  the  world's  account. ""f 

After  the  meeting  for  public  worship,  they  held  a  meet- 
ing for  Church  discipline, — the  first  that  appears  to  have 
been  held  for  that  purpose  in  Maryland. | 

This  meeting  at  AVest  River  is  celebrated  in  the  history 
of  the  Quakers  in  Maryland,  as  being  the  first  general 
meeting  of  their  members,  and  which  has  been  succeeded 
by  others  known  as  "Half  Year's  Meetings,'"  "Yearly 
Meetings,"  "Quarterly  Meetings,"  &c. 

Immediately  after  this  meeting  Fox  appears  to  have 
continued  his  labors  by  preaching  his  doctrines,  and  es- 
tablishing meetings  for  discipline,  at  various  places  in 
the  province.  He  has  left  a  very  complete,  interesting 
and  curious  record  of  liis  travels  in  Maryland,  and  other 
American  colonies, — written  witli  great  plainness  of  dic- 
tion, and  bearing  evidences  of  liis  earnest  devotedness  to 
the  cause  he  had  espoused. 

In  October,  1672,  he  attended  the  "General  Meeting 
for  all  Maryland  Friends,"  at  "  Treadliaven  Creek, "jj  at 
or  near  wliere  now  stands  the  town  of  Easton,  Talbot 
County.  Til  is  meeting  liehl  five  days, — the  first  tliree 
f)r  public  worsliip ;  and  tlie  otlier  two  for  disci])line,  at 
which  the  men  and  women  held  se])arate  meetings,  as  is 

*  MSS.  Records  of  Md.  Friends.  %  Janney's  Life  of  Fox.  :{28. 

■f  Fox's  Joiirnsil.   12.''..  Fox's  .Journ.'il.   WW. 


13 

now  their  custom.  Being  held  just  six  mouths  after  the 
first  General  Meeting  at  West  River, — aud  being  thence 
for  many  years  afterwards,  semi-annually,  lield  alter- 
nately at  these  two  places,  those  meetings  were  some- 
times called  "Half  Year\s  Meetings." 

Fox  remained  in  America  until  after  the  "Ueneral 
Meeting  for  the  Province  of  Maryland,"  at  West  Eiver, 
whicli  commenced  on  the  lYth  of  3d  month  1673,  and 
lasted  four  days. 

The  next  day  being  the  21st,  he  set  sail  for  England, 
so  that  the  first  and  last  meetings  attended  by  this  cele- 
brated man,  in  America,  were  held  at  the  same  place,  at 
West  River  in  Maryland.  In  describing  this  meeting  he 
says,  "divers  of  considerable  account  in  the  government, 
and  many  others  were  present,  who  were  generally  satis- 
tied,  and  many  of  them  reached,  for  it  was  a  Avonderful 
glorious  meeting. " ' * 

A  curious  description  of  one  of  these  General  or  Yearly 
Meetings  is  given  by  Samuel  Bownas,  an  English  Quaker, 
who  travelled  for  the  second  time  in  Maryland,  in  1727. 
"The  Yearly  Meeting  now  came  on,  Avhich  held  four  days, 
viz :  three  for  worship,  and  one  for  business.  Many  people 
resort  to  it,  and  transact  a  deal  of  trade  one  with  another, 
so  that  it  is  a  kind  of  market  or  change  wliere  the  cap- 
tains of  ships  and  the  planters  meet  and  settle  their  af- 
fairs; and  tliis  draws  abundance  of  people  of  the  best 
rank  to  it."t 

This  promiscuous  gathering  of  people  no  doubt  led  to 
some  abuses,  and  probably  to  the  annoyance  of  the  Friends, 
for  in  1711  they  advised  an  address  to  the  Government 
"for  ye  prevention  and  suppressing  the  practice  of  bring- 
ing drink  near  our  Meeting  House  in  the  time  of  our 
Yearly  Meetings,"  and  in  1725,  an  Act  was  passed  to  pre- 

*  Fox's  Journal,  142.     f  Life  and  Travels  of  Samuel  Bownas.  London.  1756. 


14 

vent  the  sale  of  liquors  in  booths  within  one  mile  of  the 
Quaker  Yearly  Meeting  house  in  Talbot  County,  or  two 
miles  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  house  near  West  River  in 
Anne  Arundel  County.* 

George  Fox  having  established  the  meetings  for  disci- 
pline in  Maryland,  they  appear  to  have  been  regularly 
kept  subsequently. t  The  earliest  manuscript  records  of 
the  General  or  Yearly  Meetings,  which  are  now  extant, 
commence  in  1677,  and  are  regularly  continued  from  that 
period.  These  Records  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Meeting  which  is  held  in  Lombard  Street,  between  How- 
ard and  Eutaw  Streets,  and  are  kept  in  the  meeting 
house  there.  They  are  in  a  remarkably  good  state  of 
])reservation, — are  comprised  in  several  volumes  of  irreg- 
ular size  and  binding ;  and  are  written  mostly  in  fair  and 
legible  characters, — but  as  the  minutes  are  evidently  the 
production  of  many  different  persons,  the  style  is  corres- 
pondingly diverse ;  and  in  many  of  tliem  but  little  atten- 
tion is  paid  to  orthography,  wliile  })unctuation  is  utterly 
ignored. 

Tlie  first  Record  is  thus  dated,  ''Att  <mr  General  Man's 
Meeting  at  West  Hive r  in  the  year  1677," — the  month  is 
obliterated; — and  tlie  first  Minute  refers  to  a  debt  due  to 
tlie  estate  of  William  Lewis,  deceased,  by  one  of  the 
members  "according  to  a  judgment  of  a  former  Man's 
Meeting," — Avhicli  dcl>t  not  being  satisfied,  a  Committee, 
consisting  of  Wm.  Southbec  and  Thos.  Taylor,  was  de- 
puted to  see  to  the  matter,  and  give  an  answer  at  tlie 
next  Man's  Meeting. 

This  early  instance  of  the  care  of  the  Quakers  to  keep 
their  membership  clear  of  injustice,  may  be  taken  as  a 

*  IJiicori's  Lawri,  1725,  chap.  6. 

t  liowden  gives  a  copy  of  ail  Epistle  "  from  tlie  Men's  (Jeneral  Meeting  at 
West  River,  in  Maryland,  the  C  'day  of  the  fourth  niontli.  1UT4;'  to  tlie  Meirs 
.Meeting  of  Friends  in  Bristol,  England.  ' 


15 

specimen  of  their  subse(£ueiit  action  in  such  cases,  and 
numerous  Minutes  are  found  of  similar  proceedings  by 
their  meetings. 

Tlie  second  Record  is  dated  "Att  our  half-yeares  Plan's 
fleeting  (some  words  obliterated)  Treadhaven  Creek  the  '6d 
(lay  of  ye  Sth  3Ionth  1677."* 

The  first  Minute  is  thus,  ''It  was  agreed  upon  by  the 
Meeting  that  John  Edraondson,  Bryon  O' Mealy  and 
Ralph  Fishbourn  doe  goe  to  Vincent  Lowe  and  shew  him 
Robert  Ridgley's  letter  and  treat  with  him  about  the 
report  he  spread  abroad  ofjf rieuds  that  luere  chosen  Assem- 
bly Men,'' — shewing  that  thus  early  in  the  liistory  of  our 
State,  the  Quakers  held  some  offices  of  consequence  undei- 
the  proprietary  government. 

That  the  Society  had  an  appreciation  of  the  importance 
of  keeping  records  of  their  Meetings,  is  shown  by  another 
minute  at  this  Meeting,  ordering  "that  John  Hilling- 
should  be  paid  4001bs.  of  tobacco  for  writing  the  concei-ns 
of  ffriends  on  this  side," — probably  meaning  on  this  side 
of  the  Bay. 

At  the  same  Meeting  it  was  "thought  fitt  and  meete 
that  a  Stock  should  be  gathered  for  the  service  of  the 
truth,"  "^'and  the  supply  of  the  poore  amongst  us," 
"every  ffriend  being  left  to  his  freedom  what  to  give," 
and  the  subscription  list  is  given  in  full.  The  amount 
subscribed  was  86501bs.  of  tobacco.  Among  the  subscri- 
bers was  Thomas  Taylor,  whose  name  appears  among 
others,  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Bris- 
tol, England,  quoted  by  Bowden,  and  is  styled  "one  of 
the  Council  and  Speaker  of  the  Assembly." 

The  Records  for  the  ^'■General  Mans  Meeting  at  West 
River  the  I'^th  of  3cZ  Month  1678"  contain  a  Minute  tluit 
a  Committee  of  nine  persons, — one  from  each  local  or 
"particular"   Meeting,- — should   l)e  appointed   to    "make 


16 

en(|uiry  into  the  estate,  condition  and  usage  of  orphans 
and  their  estates,  and  to  give  an  accompt  to  every  respec- 
tive half-year's  Man's  Meeting,"  ''^so  that  they  be  in  no 
wise  abused  nor  their  estates  wasted,  and  that  poor 
orphans  may  be  provided  for." 

These  early  Records  show  their  solicitude  for  the  poor 
and  helpless ;  and  so  marked  has  been  this  cliaracteristic 
of  the  Quakers,  that  it  has  passed  into  an  adage,  that  "no 
Quaker  is  found  beggings  or  in  the  Alms  House." 

Subsequently  there  was  a  standing  committee  appointed, 
which  was  termed  a  ^^ Meeting  for  widoivs  and  orphans^'' 
and  held  its  sessions  at  least  as  often  as  the  General  Meet- 
ings, to  which  it  reported.  8ome  of  these  Minutes  are 
curious  in  the  circumstances  and  cases  reported  as  claim- 
ing attention. 

As  a  specimen,  a  minute  of  IGT'J  may  be  quoted,  which 
is  as  follows:  '-The  widovv  Ford  hath  referred  herself  to 
our  Man's  Meeting  for  advice  and  assistance  in  the  matter 
relating  to  her  outward  estate," — and  a  special  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  "  to  examine  how  matters  are  with 
her." 

The  custom  of  these  primitive  people  was  very  marked 
in  regard  to  their  care  of  the  temporal  affairs  of  their 
members.  Many  instances  occur  where  matters  of  a 
purely  private  and  personal  nature,  relating  to  tlie  estate, 
condition  and  character  of  individuals,  are  made  the  sub- 
ject of  their  meetings'  consideration  and  action.  In  the 
records  of  their  subordinate  meetings,  particularly,  do 
these  occur ;  which  circumstances  would  render  a  general 
or  unrestricted  exhibition  of  their  manuscripts,  manifestly 
improper, — and  hence  the  specimens  of  their  Minutes 
Avhicli  are  here  selected,  are  such  as  can  by  no  possibility 
injure  or  wound  any,  wlio  may,  by  descent  or  otherwise, 
be  connected  with  those  persons  named  therein. 


17 

The  subject  of  marriages,  involving  the  delicate  and 
important  questions  of  the  legitimacy  of  children  and 
descent  of  estates,  at  a  very  early  period  engaged  the 
most  serious  attention  of  the  Quakers  ;  as  according  to 
the  law  of  England,  marriages  "  might  be  adjudged  void 
wlien  solemnized  without  license  or  publication  of  banns 
in  the  church  of  the  parish." 

The  opposition  of  the  sect  to  all  alliance  or  affinity  with 
the  established  church,  induced  it  in  this  matter  to  take 
a  stand  that  was  bold  and  difficult  to  be  maintained  ;  and 
in  no  particular  have  they  manifested  a  more  distinct 
and  determined  position. 

In  1652,  George  Fox  issued  a  paper  advising  Friends 
about  to  be  married  "that  they  might  lay  it  before  the 
faithful  in  time,  before  any  thing  was  concluded,  and 
afterwards  publish  it  in  the  end  of  a  meeting,  or  in  a 
market,  as  they  were  moved  thereto.  And  when  all 
things  were  found  clear,  being  free  from  all  others,  and 
their  relations  satisfied,  they  might  appoint  a  meeting  on 
purpose  for  the  taking  of  each  other  in  the  presence  of  at 
least  twelve  faithful  witnesses.'"  "^ 

In  1661,  a  Quaker  marriage  was  brought  to  the  test  of 
a  legal  tribunal  in  England,  and  the  Judge,  (Archer,  of 
Nottingham  Assize,)  instructed  the  jury  favorably  to  its 
validity,  saying,  that  "there  was  a  marriage  in  Paradise 
when  Adam  took  Eve  and  Eve  took  Adam,  and  tliat  it 
was  the  consent  of  the  parties  that  made  a  marriage." 
The  verdict  of  the  jury  established  the  validity  of  the 
marriage  in  question. f 

In  no  particular  does  the  society  appear  to  have  exer- 
cised greater  caution  and  care,  than  in  that  of  their  mar- 
riages ;  requiring  two  or  three  applications  to  as  many 
meetings,  so  as  to  ensure  publicity  of  intentions,  and  to 

*  Jauney's  Hist.  2.  49.  flbid.  2.  51. 


18 

guard  against  all  things  that  might,  in  their  quaint  style, 
''be  contrary  to  the  order  of  truth,"  or  bring  discredit 
on  their  membership. 

In  the  old  manuscript  records  of  the  Maryland  Friends, 
numerous  instances  are  found  of  their  proposals  of  mar- 
riage,— one  of  which,  in  1B78,  may  be  given  as  a  curious 
specimen,  viz: 

"Obadiah  Judkins  and  Obedience  Jenner,  acquainted 
this  meeting,  and  also  the  women's  meeting,  with  tlieir 
intentions  of  coming  together  as  luisband  and  wife,  ac- 
cording to  the  order  of  truth ;  now  inasmuch  as  the 
young  woman  is  but  lately  come  forth  of  England,  and 
Friends  noe  certaine  knowledge  of  her,  the  advice  of 
the  men  and  women's  meeting  is  that  they  forbeare, 
and  proceed  noe  further  till  certificate  be  procured  out  of 
England  from  the  meeting  where  slie  last  belonged  unto, 
of  her  being  cleere  from  others,  and  as  to  the  manner  of 
her  life  and  conversation,  that  so  the  truth  may  be  kept 
cleere  in  all  things ;  both  the  partys  being  willing  to  sub- 
mit to  the  same,  and  also  to  live  apart  in  the  mean  time." 

Among  the  earliest  "testimonies"  of  t]ie  Quakers, 
their  objection  to  oaths  is  prominent;  and  as  a  conse- 
quence they  encountered  great  difficulties  in  many  par- 
ticulars. Their  efforts  were  continuous  to  be  relieved 
from  the  disabilities  tliey  encountered  as  witnesses,  admin- 
istrators of  estates,  guardians  of  orphans,  &c. 

In  1^73,  Wm.  Penn  addressed  a  letter  to  Friends  in 
Maryland  in  which  lie  says,  ''it  fell  to  my  lot  to  manage 
your  concerns  with  tlie  Attorney  General  of  the  Colony 
and  the  Lord  Baltimore,  about  oatlis," — and  gave  some 
advice  in  relation  to  the  matter.* 

In  ^lay,  1074,  a  ])('titi(>n  was  jn-esented  from  certain 
Quakers  to  the  ui)per  liousc  of  Assembly  of  Maryland, 

*  J;iiiiii-\ 's  Liti- i)f  I'oiiii.  Iik; 


19 

asking  to  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  taking  oaths, 
and  that  they  be  allowed  to  make  their  "yea,  yea,  and 
nay,  nay;"  if  they  break  which  that  they  suffer  the  same 
punishment  as  they  do  who  break  their  oaths  or  swear 
falsely.* 

The  petition  was  not  acted  on  at  this  time. 

In  1688,  Lord  Baltimore  was  pleased  to  issue  a  procla- 
mation to  dispense  with  oaths  in  testamentary  cases; 
which  was  gratefully  acknowledged  in  an  address  from 
the  Friends'  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Herring  Creek,  on  the 
7th  of  the  9th  month,  1688. f 

In  1702,  (chap.  1,  sec.  21,)  an  act  wsm  passed  which 
fully  relieved  the  Quakers  of  this  difficulty. 

Subsequent  to  this  period,  the  favor  of  both  tlie  Home 
and  Provincial  Governments  was  manifested  towards 
Friends,  which  they  repaid  with  a  grateful  loyalty. 

Tradition  relates  that  for  many  years  it  was  custo- 
mary to  reserve  seats  for  the  Provincial  Governor  and 
his  suite  on  the  raised  benches  or  forms,  called  the 
"Preacher's  Gallery,"  which  they  occupied  at  times  dur- 
ing the  sessions  of  the  Yearly  Meetings. 

The  General  or  Yearly  Meetings  had  from  their  com- 
mencement been  in  the  habit  of  enquiring  into  the  state 
of  the  society  at  large,  and  requiring  reports  from  the 
subordinate  meetings,  touching  various  matters,  both 
spiritual  and  temporal.  These  reports,  as  may  be  sup- 
posed, were  of  an  irregular  character ;  each  meeting  re- 
porting on  such  subjects  as  happened  to  attract  its  atten- 
tion. A  remedy  for  this  was  found  by  instituting  a  set 
of  questions,  which  the  lower  meetings  were  required  to 
answer,  thus  ensuring  uniformity  of  subject,  if  not  simi- 
larity of  reply.     These  questions  have  been  altered  from 

•'■  Ridgley's  Annapolis.  62.  t  Boi=se  quotpd  in  Janney's  Hist.  2.  364. 


20 

time  to  time,  but  the  Friends  of  the  present  day  may 
recognize  in  the  following  set  of  queries,  the  original  and 
rude  foundation  on  which  has  been  reared  the  more 
polished  structure  of  modern  phrase.  This  list  was 
adopted  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  1725,  and  is  copied 
from  the  Manuscript  Records. 

"1.  Are  all  careful  to  keep  meetings,  both  weekly,  first 
days  and  monthly,  comeing  in  due  time,  and  bringing 
forth  their  families? 

"2.  Are  all  careful  to  keep  out  of  sleep  and  drowsiness 
in  time  of  meeting? 

''3.  Doe  those  that  have  children  train  them  up  in  the 
nurture  and  fear  of  the  Lord,  restraining  them  from  vice, 
wantoness,  and  keeping  company  with  such  as  would 
teach  them  \ain  fat  ions  and  corrupt  ways  of  this  world  to 
the  misspending  of  their  precious  time  and  substance? 

"4:.  Are  all  careful  to  keep  their  word  and  pay  their 
just  debts  and  contracts  in  due  time? 

"5.  Whether  any  differences  among  friends,  are  they 
speedily  ended,  otherwise  refer  themselves  to  two  or  more 
honest  friends,  and  if  they  cannot  end  the  same,  then 
refer  them  to  the  Men's  Meeting? 

"6.  Doe  none  commence  or  defend  any  suit  of  law  except 
such  have  tlie  advice  of  tlie  Men's  Meeting;  but  those 
that  defend  may  give  their  appearance  or  sue  for  a  Bond 
on  a  just  debt? 

''7.  Are  all  careful  to  keep  up  their  antient  and  christian 
testimony  against  titlies,  Priest's  wages,  repairing  of 
their  houses,  called  cliurches,  or  any  other  ceremony  of 
that  nature? 

"  8.  Have  all  Friends  been  advised  to  make  tlieir  wills 
and  testaments,  and  have  them  well  attested? 

"*.i.  Is  there  no  tattlers,  tale-bearers,  busy  bodys  med- 
lin2;  themselves  with  other  men's  matters  which  thev  are 


21 

not  concerned  with,  which  tends  to  strife  and  discord 
among  brethren? 

"10.  Doe  all  keep  to  plainess  of  speech? 

"11.  Doe  all  keep  out  of  superfluity  of  meet,  drink,  and 
apparel,  at  all  times? 

"12.  Doe  all  keep  out  of  y®  abuse  of  smoaking  and  chew- 
ing tobacco  att  all  times  ;  and  doe  none  use  it  but  such  as 
can  render  a  reason  the  good  they  receive  by  it  and  loss 
they  sustain  for  want  of  it,  and  that  such  observe  conve- 
nient time  and  place  for  it? 

"13.  Doe  non  practice  any  clandestine  way  of  trade 
which  is  to  the  dishonour  of  truth,  which  the  testimony 
of  truth  is  already  given  forth  against? 

"14.  Is  care  taken  and  Friends  advised  that  none  too 
nearly  (related)  proceed  in  collateral  marriages,  and  that 
none  marry  within  the  third  degree  of  affinity  and  the 
fourth  degree  of  consanguinity  according  to  former  advice? 

"15.  Whether  there  is  any  masters  of  trade  that  want 
apprentices  or  children  of  Friends  to  be  put  forth,  that 
they  apply  themselves  to  the  Monthly  Meetings  before 
they  take  those  that  are  not  Friends,  or  put  forth  their 
children  to  such  ? 

"  16.  Whether  have  tlie  children  of  the  poor  due  educa- 
tion so  as  to  fitt  them  for  necessary  employment? 

"17.  Whether  there  is  any  fatherless  or  widows  that 
want  necessarys,  yea  or  nay,  and  if  any  want  are  they 
supplied  ? 

'  "18.  Doe  Friends  every  where  behave  themselves 
orderly  both  in  their  converse  and  commerce,  so  as  to 
answer  the  witness  of  God  with  them  with  whom  they  are 
concerned?" 

The  subject  of  using  tobacco  had  been  acted  on  in  1705, 
when  an  advice  was  issued  against  its  immoderate  use, 
and  Friends  were  admonished  in  relation  thereto. 


22 

Negro  slavery  existed  in  Maryland  and  other  British 
colonies,  at  the  time  when  the  Quakers  first  settled  in 
them; — and  it  does  not  appear  that  slave-holding  was 
then  considered  by  them,  as  inconsistent  with  their 
principles.  Numerous  instances  may  he  adduced  of  the 
fact  that  they  were  slave-holders. 

Janney  in  his  History  of  the  Quakers  quotes  the  will 
of  one  Alice  Kennersly,  of  Maryland,  who  bequeathed 
^'her  negro  woman  Betty  and  her  child  to  Dan.  Cox  in 
consideration  that  he  sliould  pay  twenty  shillings  annu- 
ally for  thirty  years  to  the  Meeting,  for  the  paying  of 
travelling  Friends'  ferriage  in  Dorchester  County,  or 
whatsoever  other  occasions  Friends  may  see  meet,"  and 
the  Meeting  recognized  the  bequest  by  advising  Dan.  Cox 
to  be  present  at  the  next  Monthly  Meeting  to  answer  such 
questions  as  may  be  asked  him  concerning  the  premises. 

In  1671,  George  Fox  issued  an  advice  to  Friends  in 
Barbadoes  "respecting  their  negroes"  "to  endeavour  to 
train  them  up  in  the  fear  of  Grod,"  "and  after  certain 
years  of  servitude  they  should  make  them  free."* 

Whilst  in  Barbadoes  he  was  assailed  with  a  calumny 
tliat  he  "taught  tlie  negroes  to  rebel,"  which  he  declared 
was  "an  abominable  untruth,"  and  "it  is  a  thing  we 
utterly  ablior. " 

The  earliest  movement  or  tlie  part  of  the  Quakers  in 
America,  in  a  Meeting  capacity,  relating  to  slaves,  was 
by  some  German  Friends  at  Kreislieim,  near  Germantown, 
Penn.,  in  1688,  when  tliey  addressed  a  paper  to  the'it 
Yearly  Meeting  "concerning  the  lawfulness  and  unlaw- 
fulness of  hui/irif/  or  keeping  negroes."  No  action  was 
tlien  taken  on  it  by  the  Yearly  Meeting,  f 

In  1700,  "VVm.  Penn  having  made  provision  for  the 
liberation  of  tlie  few  slaves  he  liehl,  brouglit  the  subject 

*  Fox's  Journal,  2,  1.''4.  t  Jaiiiiev'.-  Fox,  •Ifis. 


23 

before  a  Monthly  Meeting  in  Philadelpliia,  but  the  ex- 
tent of  its  action  was  merely  to  direct  that  the  negroes 
and  Indians  should  be  encouraged  to  attend  Friends 
Meetings.  * 

From  this  time  forward  it  is  said  tliat  tlie  subject  of 
slavery  continued  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  Quakers  in 
various  parts  of  America; — but  no  Minute  upon  the  ques- 
tion appears  in  the  Manuscript  Records  of  Friends  in 
Maryland  until  the  6th  month,  1759,  Avhen  upon  a  revi- 
sion of  their  queries,  a  new  one  was  adopted  as  follows: 
^'Are  Friends  careful  of  importing  or  hiiijing  of  negroes^ 
and  doe  they  use  them  icell  they  are  possessed  of  by  inheri- 
tance or  otherioise,  endeavoring  to  trane  them  up)  in  the 
principles  of  Christian  religion?  " 

In  the  5th  month  1T60,  the  Records  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting  at  West  River,  relates  to  ''some  oneasiness"  with 
some  Friends  respecting  the  words,  "buying  of  negroes," 
"agreed  to  last  year,"  and  the  Meeting  thinks,  "Friends 
at  present  are  not  fully  ripe  in  tlieir  judgments  to  carry 
the  minute  farther  than  against  being  concerned  in  the 
importing  of  negroes. " 

At  the  Meeting  in  the  10th  month  of  tlie  same  year,  at 
Treadhaven,  the  minute  relative  to  this  subject  is  that 
"this  Meeting  concludes  that  Friends  sliould  not  in  any 
wise  encourage  the  importation  of  negroes,  by  buying  or 
selling  them^  or  other  slaves.  " 

In  the  5th  month  1762,  the  Meeting  at  West  River 
declares:  "It  is  their  solid  judgment  that  no  member  of 
our  society  shall  be  concerned  in  importing  or  buying  of 
negroes,  nor  selling  any  without  the  consent  and  appro- 
bation of  the  Monthly  Meeting  they  belong  to.  " 

The  Manuscript  Records  teem  with  the  subject  of  sla- 
very ; — nearly  every  year  was  it  brought  before  tlie  Meet- 

"*Jaimev's  Fox,  468. 


24 

ings,  and  it  gradually  grew  from  a  concern  relating  only 
to  the  importation  of  negroes,  to  the  retention  of  them  as 
slaves.  Great  caution  is  apparent  in  their  Minutes  upon 
the  subject,  and  as  it  encountered  serious  opposition  by 
many  of  their  members,  it  was  not  until  1777  that  slave- 
holding  was  made  a  disownable  offence.*  In  1770  the 
Yearly  Meeting  of  New  England  had  arrived  at  the  same 
point,  and  in  1776  the  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting  had 
also  come  to  the  same  conclusion.  In  1777  the  North 
Carolina  Yearly  Meeting,  (Avhich  embraced  the  Friends 
of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia)  contemporaneously  acted 
in  concert  with  their  brethren  in  Maryland, f  but  it  was 
not  until  1784  that  the  Virginia  Friends  adopted  the  ex- 
treme measure  of  disownment  for  holding  slaves.  J 

It  thus  appears  that  nearly  a  century  elapsed  between 
the  first  introduction  of  the  subject  in  the  Society  in  1688, 
to  its  final  settlement  in  1784: — while  the  Maryland 
Friends  consumed  eighteen  years  in  the  discussion  of  the 
question,  before  arriving  at  the  i:)osition  they  have  since 
maintained  in  relation  thereto. 

We  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  pecuniary  sacri- 
fices made  by  the  Maryland  Quakers,  to  their  conscientious 
convictions  on  this  momentous  subject,  but  tradition  re- 
lates that  one  family  alone  liberated  200  slaves. 

From  tlie  fact  that  a  large  number  of  Friends  lived  in 
the  slave-holding  counties  of  Anne  Arundel,  Prince 
George's  and  Montgomery,  and  others  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  where  the  great  mass  of  labor  was  performed  by 
slaves,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  in  the  aggregate  the  sac- 
rifice was  very  great;  and  perhaps  has  no  parallel  instance 
where  such  pecuniary  loss  was  voluntarily  incurred  for 
conscience'  sake. 

•MSS.  Records  of  Md.  Friends. 

t  Pamphlet  Report  of  N.  Carolina  Yearly  Meeting  on  the  sutgect  of  Slavery. 

t Janney's  Fox,  469. 


25 

The  General  Meetings  of  the  Society  in  Maryland  con- 
tinued to  be  held  at  West  River  and  Treadhaven,  until 
the  4tli  of  the  Gth  month,  1785,  when,  in  accordance 
with  a  Minute  of  adjournment  of  the  previous  Yearly 
Meeting  at  Thirdhaven,  as  it  was  now  called,  it  was  for 
the  first  time  held  at  Baltimore  Town.  It  had  now 
become  strictly  an  Annual  or  Yearly  Meeting,  and  was 
held  the  next  year,  1*786,  at  Thirdhaven  ;  in  1787  again 
at  Baltimore  Town; — in  1788  at  Thirdhaven;  and  in 
the  Gth  month,  1789,  for  the  third  time  at  Baltimore  Town; 
and  from  that  period  has  continued  to  be  held  in  this  city ; 
the  autumn  being  chosen  for  the  time,  instead  of  early 
summer  as  heretofore.  The  present  Meeting  House  at 
the  corner  of  Aisquith  and  Fayette  Streets,  was  built  in 
1780,  and  the  particular  Meeting  moved  thereto  in  Jan- 
uary 1781,  from  an  older  house  which  stood  on  tlie  site  of 
the  Quaker  burying  ground  on  the  Harford  turnpike,  a 
short  distance  beyond  the  present  city  limits.  The  older 
Meeting  was  called  "Patapsco,"  and  the  lot  of  ground  it 
occupied  was  given  by  Joseph  Taylor.  This  Meeting  is 
first  mentioned  in  the  old  manuscripts  in  1703  ;  but  it  was 
then  probably  held  at  a  private  house.  Mr.  John  Giles, 
the  first  of  the  family  of  that  name  who  have  since  occu- 
pied a  prominent  position  in  this  state,  settled  near  the 
present  site  of  Baltimore,  about  1700,  and  at  his  house  the 
Quakers  held  their  Meetings.*  His  son  Jacob  Giles 
erected  a  large  brick  dwelling  about  three  miles  from 
Havre  de  Grace,  which  is  still  standing,  and  in  its  octagon 
hall  the  Friends  of  Harford  County  held  their  Meetings 
for  many  years.  No  vestige  of  the  building  known  as 
Patapsco  Meeting  now  remains,  but  the  ground  is  still 
used  as  a  cemetery  by  both  of  the  sections  into  Avhich 
the  Society  is  now  divided.     Aged  persons  recollect  the 

*  Griffith's  Annals  of  Baltimore. 


26 

earliest  Yearly  Meetings,  in  this  city,  when  the  throngs 
attending  were  so  great  that  a  large  tent  was  erected  for 
their  accommodation,  on  the  then  green  lots  south  of  the 
present  site  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  at  the 
corner  of  East  Baltimore  and  Lloyd  Streets. 

The  location  of  many  of  the  oldest  meeting  houses  is 
still  known,  the  house  at  West  River  has  long  since  dis- 
appeared, but  the  ground  is  still  used  as  a  public  ceme- 
tery, and  is  now  called  the  "Quaker  Meeting  lot."  It  is 
on  the  road  leading  from  Gales vi  He  to  Owensville,  one 
mile  from  the  river ;  and  the  venerable  trees  that  stand 
within  its  precincts  keep  faithful  watch  over  the  resting 
places  of  many  of  the  first  Friends  of  Maryland,  whose 
rigid  simplicity  permitted  no  monumental  stone  to  tell 
who  sleeps  beneath  their  shadows. 

The  original  meeting  house  at  Easton,  or  Treadhaven  as 
it  was  formerly  called_,  has  been  replaced  by  a  more  modern 
structure,  which  hoAvever  occupies  the  same  spot,  once 
called  Edmondson's  Point.  From  the  frequent  reference 
in  the  Records  relative  to  repairs  to  the  old  house,  it  is 
probable  that  it  was  a  very  poorly  built  structure,  though 
doubtless  it  taxed  the  finances  of  the  Society  at  that  early 
period  to  erect  it.* 

*The  Rev.  Ethan  Allen  has  kindly  furnished  the  following  abstract  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of  Maryland  on  the  24th  May,  1698. 
(See  "Council  Proceedings,"  Liber  H.  D.  So.  2.) 

"In  obedience  to  an  order  of  his  Excellency,  the  Governor  and  Council, 
dated  the  10th  of  August,  1697,  commanding  the  several  Sherifl's  of  this  Pro- 
vince to  return  a  list  of  what  Romish  Priests  and  Lay  Brothers  are  resident  in 
their  respective  Counties,  and  what  Churches,  Chapels  or  places  of  worship 
they  have, — what  manner  of  buildings  they  are,  and  in  what  places  situate, — 
and  return  also  a  like  account  about  the  Quakers  and  other  dissenters  from 
the  Church  of  England,  and  of  their  places  of  worship.  &c." 

TheSheriff  of  Anne  Arundel  County  returns,  "the  Quakers  have  one  timber- 
work  meeting  house  built  at  West  River  upon  land  formerly  owned  by  Mr. 
Francis  Hooker,  by  them  purchased  to  the  quantity  of  two  acres,  where  thev 


27 

Thomas  Chalkly  an  eminent  minister  of  the  Society,  in 
his  curious  and  interesting  journal,  under  date  of  1706, 
says  "Aquila  Paca,  High  Sheriff  of  the  County  (mean- 
keep  their  Yearly  Meetings, — which  is  at  Whitsuntide: — Also  a  Quarterly 
Meeting  at  the  house  of  Samuel  Chew: — Also  a  Monthly  Meeting  in  Herring 
Creek  meeting  house,  standing  on  land  purchased  of  Samuel  Chew : — Also  a 
Weekly  Meeting  at  the  same  house : — Also  Monthly  and  Weekly  Meetings  at 
the  house  of  Wm.  Richardson,  Senior,  West  River: — Also  a  Weekly  Meeting 
at  the  house  of  Ann  Lumbolt,  near  the  head  of  South  River : — Also  a  Monthly 
Meeting  at  the  house  of  John  Belt.  So  fiir  as  I  have  the  account  from  Mr. 
Richardson,  I  can  understand  of  no  preachers  they  have  in  this  County  but 
Mr.  Wm.  Richardson  and  Samuel  Galloway's  wife." 

The  Sheriff  of  Baltimore  County  returns,  "that  there  is  neither  teacher  or 
place  of  worship  of  Roman  Catholics  or  Quakers." 

The  Sheriff  of  Calvert  County  returns  that  "the  Quakers  have  one  very  old 
meeting  house  near  Leonard's  Creek,  and  one  place  of  meeting  in  the  dwelling 
house  of  George  Royston,  at  the  CliflFs." 

The  Sheriff  of  Prince  George  County  returns  that  there  is  "no  Quaker 
meeting  house." 

The  Sheriff  of  Charles  County  returns  that  there  "are  two  Quakers,  but 
none  of  their  meeting  houses." 

The  Sheriff  of  St.  Mary's  County  returns,  "as  to  Quakers  and  Dissenters 
none  in  the  County." 

The  Sheriff  of  Somerset  County  returns  "no  Quakers." 

The  Sheriff  of  Dorchester  County  makes  a  similar  return. 

TheSheriff  of  Talbot  County  returns,  "as  to  the  Quaker's  places  of  worship, 
they  have  a  small  meeting  house  at  Ralph  Fishbourne's  and  another  at  Howell 
Powell;  another  at  between  King's  Creek  and  Tuckalioe.  These  are  clap- 
board houses  about  twenty  feet  long.  Another  framed  house  at  the  head  of 
Treadhaven  Creek,  about  fifty  feet  long." 

The  Sheriff  of  Kent  County  returns  that  "the  Quaker  place  of  worship  is 
u])on  a  branch  of  a  Creek  running  out  of  Chester  River,  called  Island  Creek. 
The  house  is  about  thirty  feet  long  and  twenty  feet  wide,  with  a  partition  after 
the  manner  of  a  tobacco  house,  near  which  is  a  piece  of  ground  paled  in, 
where  they  bury  their  dead,  about  fifty  feet  square." 

From  Cecil  County  no  return  appears  to  have  been  made. 

At  the  Yearly  Meeting  at  Treadhaven  Creek,  the  5th  day  of  the  8th  month, 
1697,  (see  MSS.  Records  of  Maryland  Friends,)  enquiry  was  made  "into  the 
estate  and  welfare  of  every  Weekly  Meeting  belonging  to  this  Yearly  Meeting, 
viz:  Soiifh  River,  West  River,  Iter riny  Creek,  CHflu,  Patuxent,  CeeciU,  Chester, 


28 

ing  Baltimore  County,)  living  at  the  head  of  Bush  River, 
near  the  main  road,  huilt  a  meeting  house  at  his  own 
charge,  and  had  it  licensed,  at  wliich  we  had  many  good 
Meetings." 

There  is  now  standing  a  venerable  stone  building,  until 
recently  known  as  the  "old  Quaker  meeting  house," 
about  two  miles  from  the  head  of  Bush  River,  and  on  the 
line  of  an  old  road  that  passes  just  above  the  heads  of  the 
many  estuaries  that  make  up  from  the  bay.  Whether 
this  is  the  house  built  by  Sheriff  Paca  is  not  known, 
but  its  location  nearly  agrees  with  that  mentioned  by 
Chalkly.  Another  meeting  house,  built  of  brick,  until 
recently  stood  on  the  line  of  the  present  road  from  Ab- 
ingdon to  Bush,  in  Harford  County,  but  was  of  more  recent 
date  than  the  stone  house,  and  had  not  been  used  by  the 
Friends  for  several  years  previous  to  its  destruction  by  fire. 

Tlie  earliest  history  of  Friends  shows  them  to  have 
been  at  first  a  society  of  Propagandists; — each  convert 
seems  to  have  become  a  misionary  to  extend  the  principles 
of  the  new  sect; — and  every  accessible  part  of  the  world 
appears  to  have  been  visited  by  them  within  a  few  years 
after  they  appeared  in  England.  The  continent  of  Europe 
was  visited  as  early  as  1655;  and  in  Germany  and  Hol- 
land considerable  success  was  met  with.  Some  went  to 
the  Holy  Land,  some  to  the  Grand  Turk,  some  to  Poland, 
others  to  Algiers;  and  as  we  have  seen,  many  sought 
the  wilds  of  America  where  to  plant  the  standard  of  their 
faith ;  and  here  ai)pears  to  have  flourished  most  the  new 

liayside,  Tuccahoe,  Tredhavcn,  C'hoptarik,  Transquaking,  Monnye,  Annamcssez, 
Muddij  Creek,  Pocatynorton  and  No  s  sic  add  ox. 

The  apparent  discrepancies  between  the  returns  of  the  Sheriffs  and  tliis  list 
of  Weekly  .Meetings,  may  possibly  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  some  of  these 
Meetings  were  held  ss.iprivale  houses,  whicli  some  of  the  Sheriffs  may  not  have 
considered  as  embraced  within  the  order  of  Council,  while  others  included 
them  in  their  returns. 


29 

doctrines  they  promulgated.  It  is  estimated  by  some  of 
their  best  authors  that  four-fifths  of  all  the  Quakers  now 
in  the  world  are  in  America. 

Not  only  by  travelling  and  preaching  did  the  zealous 
founders  of  their  faith  seek  to  establish  it.  Books  of 
various  kinds,  tracts,  and  pamphlets,  appeared  in  great 
numbers.  So  early  as  1708,  a  catalogue  of  Friends' 
writings  was  published  by  John  Whiting,  himself  an 
author,  which  contained  the  names  of  five  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  writers,  and  the  titles  and  dates  of  about 
twenty-eight  hundred  books  and  tracts.  Since  that  date, 
a  vast  mass  of  their  writings  has  accumulated,  and  no  one 
who  has  not  had  occasion  to  look  into  the  Quaker  libraries, 
can  have  an  idea  of  the  number  of  books,  by  their  authors, 
that  now  are  to  be  found  in  them. 

They  have,  from  the  time  of  their  establishment,  been 
in  the  habit  of  keeping  with  care  the  minutes  of  their 
meetings  for  discipline, — memorials  of  their  most  eminent 
members,  and  general  records  of  their  proceedings ;  these 
added  to  other  means,  render  the  materials  for  the  history 
of  the  society  both  abundant  and  reliable ;  and  as  such 
have  been  well  used  by  some  of  their  modern  authors, — 
among  whom  Bowden  and  Janney,  (the  former  of  England 
and  the  latter  now  living  in  Virginia,)  have  contributed 
largely  to  their  general  history,  and  from  whose  pages 
many  of  the  circumstances  here  related  have  been  gleaned; 
while  still  more  has  been  derived  from  those  old  manu- 
scripts herein  before  mentioned,  which  in  their  quaint 
simplicity,  and  unaffected  directness  of  style  and  diction, 
give  the  best  delineation  of  those,  who  in  the  earliest 
days  of  our  State,  found  here  a  home,  where,  at  that 
period,  they  enjoyed  greater  ease  and  liberty  than  either 
in  the  Mother  Country,  or  in  the  more  advanced  provinces 
of  New  England. 


30 

The  Maryland  Yearly  Meeting  at  one  period  embraced 
the  State  of  Ohio  within  its  church  jurisdiction, — but  in 
1812,  their  members  had  so  increased  that  a  new  Yearly 
Meeting  was  established,  to  include  all  west  of  the  Alle- 
ganies.  At  a  later  period,  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  Indiana 
was  set  up  ;  and  still  more  recently,  still  pushing  west- 
ward, other  meetings  have  extended  across  the  Missis- 
sippi Kiver ;  and  as  civilization  marches  towards  the 
great  West,  the  Quakers  accompanying  its  footsteps, 
appear  to  be  belting  the  continent  with  their  meetings  ; 
each  new  one  in  succession  springing  out  from  the  next 
older  ;  and  finding  their  common  mother  in  ''  the  General 
greeting  for  all  the  Friends  in  the  Province  of  Maryland^" 
established  by  George  Fox  in  1B72,  as  an  original  and 
independent  organization. 


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